How did Spartans treat their wives?

Unlike other Greek women, Spartan women had equal rights with men, except for voting rights. Since men were in the military and often away from home, the women had full authority over their households. In 404 B.C. the Spartan army was able to conquer Athens during the Peloponnesian War.

What was Spartan marriage like?

Spartan marriage lacked the ceremony of Athens. Spartan women would be willfully captured and dressed as a man, also having her hair shaved as a man would. In this attire the bride would be laid alone in the dark where a sober groom would sneak in, remove her belt, and carry her to bed.

At what age did Spartan girls usually marry?

While Athenian women might have expected to marry for the first time around the age of fourteen to men much older than them, Spartan women normally married between the ages of eighteen and twenty to men close to them in age.

Was adultery a crime in Sparta?

“Free love” wasn't new or prohibited. Spartan women could have sex with men other than their husbands — who were off on military campaigns for years—without running afoul of adultery laws because there were no such laws in Sparta.

Did Spartan brides shave their heads?

At the age of thirty Spartan men were required to take a wife. On their wedding night, servants would shave the bride's head and dress her in men's clothing. The groom would then sneak into the house where she lay and consummate the marriage.

Spartan Women - What was it like to be a woman in ancient Sparta?

Did Spartans share their wives?

While his economic reforms had dictated a community of goods, his social reforms provided for a community of wives. The basis for this sharing of married women was not orgiastic, rather it reflected the belief that children were not so much the property of their parents as of the whole commonwealth.

Did Spartan men live with their wives?

Spartan men were not allowed to live with their wives until age 30. Spartan society didn't discourage romantic love, but marriage and childrearing were both subject to some peculiar cultural and governmental constraints. The state counseled that men should marry at age 30 and women at 20.

Was homosexuality allowed in Sparta?

In Athens and Sparta, homosexuality was practiced to various degrees, and its status was somewhat “complicated,” according to Plato's Pausanias. In Thebes, on the other hand, it was actively encouraged, and even legally incentivized.

Was homosexuality illegal in Sparta?

Completely normal, even encouraged, between an adult and child/teenager. Most of the time the Spartans had homosexual sex within the Commune where they lived and it was often a power-play.

What was the relationship between a Spartan man and his wife?

Husbands and wives were also kept mostly separate, on the theory that being apart increases desire, and desire leads to healthier children. A married Spartan man continued living with other men while his children were young, and paternal duties were shared among all the men of the society.

What did the Spartans do with babies?

Babies who failed to meet the council's standards were taken to a chasm at the foot of Mount Taygetos, a place often referred to as the 'Apothetae' or 'place of rejection. '

How long did the average Spartan live?

Spartans, average life span was 28 and more.

What happened to Spartan children at age 7?

At age seven, Spartan boys were turned over by their parents to the state, where they were organized into companies that lived, studied and trained together. “The boy who excelled in judgement and was most courageous in fighting was made captain of the company,” Plutarch wrote.

Did Spartans value woman?

Sparta was a civilization whose entire existence depended upon the strength and bravery of its soldiers. The militaristic climate in Ancient Sparta led to women having a higher social value than their Athenian counterparts.

What was Sparta obsessed with?

Why were the Spartans so obsessed with fighting? One important reason for this obsession with fighting was the constant possibility they would need these skills at home, in Sparta itself. Sparta had once conquered and captured an entire group of people living nearby.

What did Spartans do for fun?

Granted, Spartan citizens also pursued rugged pastimes such as equestrianism, but their love of poetry and dance belies a contempt of pleasure. In histories written by Plutarch, Herodotus and others, we find a picture not of stern, militaristic ascetics but of bons vivants and patrons of the arts.

What did Spartans look like?

Spartans looked like other people in this area of the Mediterranean coast with olive skin and dark hair. The average Spartan man was approximately 5'9" tall, taller than other Greeks of the time. He was in excellent shape physically due to a lifetime of athletic and military training.

Did Sparta give women's rights?

Unlike other Greek women, Spartan women had equal rights with men, except for voting rights. Since men were in the military and often away from home, the women had full authority over their households. In 404 B.C. the Spartan army was able to conquer Athens during the Peloponnesian War.

Did girls have rights in Sparta?

Spartan women enjoyed certain freedoms. They had a reputation for forthright speech, and they were able to own landed-property in their own right. Spartan sexual practices are also a consideration. Sparta's women were both famous and infamous in antiquity.

Was homosexuality accepted in ancient Egypt?

No ancient Egyptian document mentions that homosexual acts were set under penalty. Thus it was very likely tolerated, as there has never been proof suggesting otherwise. The Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD is said to have exterminated a large number of "effeminate priests" based in Alexandria.

Why did Sparta fall?

Spartan political independence was put to an end when it was eventually forced into the Achaean League after its defeat in the decisive Laconian War by a coalition of other Greek city-states and Rome, and the resultant overthrow of its final king Nabis, in 192 BC.

Was slavery legal in Sparta?

Most historians thus concur that chattel slaves were indeed used in the Greek city-state of Sparta, at least after the Lacedemonian victory of 404 BC against Athens, but not in great numbers and only among the upper classes.

How did Spartan girls live?

Spartan women enjoyed some freedoms that were not available to girls in other Greek cities. For example, they were allowed to own their own property and to participate in public life. In comparison to the city-state of Athens, where women were largely confined to their own home, Spartan women enjoyed much more freedom.

How cruel were the Spartans?

The Spartans were a hardy and courageous group. But they weren't the nicest to their own people, punishing young people brutally for infractions, and even utilizing the youth as a secret service.

What did Spartans eat?

The Spartans, noted among ancient writers for their austerity, prepared a black broth of blood and boiled pig's leg, seasoned with vinegar, which they combined with servings of barley, fruit, raw greens, wine and, at larger dinners, sausages or roasted meat. Spartan boys were sparingly issued barley cakes.